The administration at Lewes prison, as of June 1, reduced the number of visits available to remand prisoners to three a week. They were previously allowed as many visits as they liked in the available

visiting hours, two sessions every morning since April, and, until April, afternoon sessions as well. Now there are only afternoon sessions. Prisoners are complaining that staff are unofficially restricting visits to one a day.

Both official and unofficial restrictions must surely be illegal. These men have been convicted of no crime and are, by law, still innocent until proven guilty.

Visitors will know it is notoriously difficult to book visits by phone. The line is always engaged. I recently encountered what a telephone engineer called a "dead tone" while trying to book a visit, which only results after a phone line has been inactive for more than 20 minutes. This means it has been left off the hook and no one is using it. Other visitors have had similar experiences.

This is in addition to the introduction of body-searches for visitors, officially justified by September 11.

Further restrictions on giving things to prisoners have been introduced. The administration must realise it is putting unbearable strain both on the men awaiting their trials at the prison and on their families and friends. Contact with the outside world can be all that keeps a prisoner sane. Does the ad-ministration want to provoke something by this behaviour?

-Mark Jeffries, Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers' Centre, Hollingdean